The Commonwealth
by NiallMarston
Summary: Fox happens upon a strange distress signal and is ordered by General Pepper to investigate.
1. Chapter 1

" _Attention, this is the Cornerian Commonwealth Vessel Acclamator. We have suffered major damage and have lost power to our engines. We are unable to move or defend ourselves, and request immediate assistance from any nearby Commonwealth forces. Attention, this is the Cornerian Commonwealth…"_

The beacon continued on endlessly. It was starting to annoy Fox, but one part in particular had intrigued him. "Cornerian Commonwealth". Nobody had referred to Corneria as a Commonwealth in well over two and a half centuries. The Cornerian People's Revolution had turned it into the Federation that he, and all Cornerians, knew and loved. So the fact that someone was referring to it as a "Commonwealth" seemed very strange to him.

"Who's doing this?" he wondered. "Either they're very brave or very stupid." Almost as soon as he'd finished the sentence, his lieutenant, Falco Lombardi walked in.

"Hey, Foxie! Whatcha doing?" Falco asked.

"Nothing," Fox replied. "ROB picked up a distress signal and it doesn't make sense."

"What do you mean?" He replied. "What doesn't make sense about it?"

"They refer to Corneria as "The Commonwealth". That's what doesn't make sense. No one's done that in centuries."

"That is weird. What do we do?"

"I don't know. Maybe tell General Pepper?"

"Probably a good idea. I'll tell the others."

Fox told ROB to alert the general, and continued to monitor the signal, waiting for his response.

It didn't take long. About ten minutes later, General Pepper was demanding Fox speak to him.

"Fox, I just got your message. Is this true?" He asked.

"Yes, sir. I wanted to tell you as soon as I knew. What do you think this is?" Fox replied.

"Did you find the source of the signal?"

"Yes, sir. A wrecked cruiser named _Acclamator._ I've never heard of it before."

"I have. Now it makes sense. The _Acclamator_ was commissioned and built by the Cornerian Commonwealth. The only problem is that was over _200 years_ ago."

"200 years? That's impossible. How would the signal still be transmitting?"

"The Commonwealth was in possession of technology that we still do not fully comprehend. It isn't too hard to imagine that a signal from a Commonwealth ship would still be transmitting. I want you to board that ship and see if you can find anything of note."

"Yes, sir!" Fox said immediately. He shut off the communicator and headed out to find his comrades.


	2. Chapter 2

"You guys ready?" Fox asked. "We need to get moving."

"Yeah, yeah Foxie, we're ready. Let's get going!" Falco shouted enthusiastically. As they climbed into their respective Arwings, Peppy came over the intercom.

"Alright everyone, be careful out there. We have no idea what that ship is capable of." He said, worriedly.

"Relax, Peppy. We know what we're doing." Fox replied. The locks on their starfighters released, and they shot out into the black void of space. Forming up, they headed towards the derelict beast of a ship, confident that everything would go to plan.

"Krystal, can you sense anything?" Fox asked. After a few seconds' silence, she replied.

"I'm afraid not, there's nothing here, Fox. At least, nothing living."

As they neared the cruiser, Fox noticed an open hangar bay, and led his team towards it. Their fighters slowly drifted into the hangar, allowing the pilots a look at the _Acclamator_. It had several rows of heavy guns, with smaller turrets scattered throughout. It's name painted on the side in white paint, plain to see against the greyish hull. It seemed like much more than a match for the Dreadnaughts that Corneria was so fond of, leaving them to wonder why they'd been discontinued. Fox decided to stash the thoughts in the back of his mind, as his Arwing was now landing.

The hangar bay was massive, with the roof nearly fifty feet above them, and enough space to park fifteen Arwings inside. A slick, black, reflective floor allowed him to get a good look at himself. He saw a tired, but mature vulpine, in his thirties. He looked like he'd seen quite a bit, and he had. All of them had, and it had changed them. _We've been through a lot together._ He thought. He decided to not dwell too much on it though, and got back to the task at hand.

"Okay team, take a look around. See if you find anything that might be useful." Fox said. As his team began searching, he noticed a terminal nearby that seemed to still be operational. As he searched through the terminal, he saw multiple technical reports of weaponry he'd never heard of before.

"Slippy! Come over here and see if you can make sense of this." He yelled.

"Okay Fox!" Slippy responded as he hurried over.

Fox began to do some searching of his own, and found what seemed to be an audio log of some kind. _I wonder how this got here._ he thought to himself. He then switched it on out of curiosity and it began to play.

" **To whomever finds this, my name is Fleet Admiral Alistair Hightower. I command the 6th Commonwealth Fleet, under the flag of the Cornerian Commonwealth. We have been subjected to heavy assault by Rebel Federation Forces, and have taken serious damage. I have ordered my men to take any means of escape and flee to a nearby outpost on Titania. However, myself and the control crew have chosen to stay behind and hold the bridge as long as we can. I do not know how long we will last, but I know we will not succeed. I ask of you, the person who finds this log, to alert any surviving Commonwealth forces to my defeat. And give my regards to the Queen."**

With a click, it shut off, and Fox was left to process what he'd just heard. He did not have long however, as Peppy was soon contacting him.

"Fox, the beacon just shut off, and ROB's detecting a large energy signature in the ship's reactor. You might wanna be careful." He warned.

"Thanks Pep. I'll get on that." Fox responded. He began looking for an entrance to the rest of the ship, and he heard a loud _whoosh_ as a door opened wide.

"Hey look at that! I got it to work." Slippy yelled triumphantly.

"Nice job, Slip. Did you get the readouts off?" Fox responded.

"Yup! Already done, there's a lot here, though. It'll take a while to go through."

"That's fine. Why don't you stay here and do that? Falco, Krystal, and I will search the rest of the ship."

"Will do, Fox!"

" Alright then guys, let's go!"


End file.
